Easy navigation with a natural flow. Small bridges where needed.

The raccoons think the various small bridges used to cross the tiny stream make excellent latrines. The deer like playing chicken with vehicles. The ticks think disc players make excellent modes of transportation - still finding them days later! :-O

The course plays in two sections, up, down, and across the hills located on either side of the road running down this narrow valley. As you come up the road, the kiosk, first eight holes, and tee-9 are on the right, just past the house, while basket-9 and holes 10-20 are on the left.

The opening three holes are on the easier side, initially playing down, up, and across the gentle slope of an open hill. After short (80'!) but steep-drop #4, the next four holes are quite flat, playing between the road and the bottom of the hill. The baskets sit in pretty-but-challenging positions, near a small stream, and with a few tree branches forcing a bit of shot-shaping. Number-9 is a gentle right-turner across the road.

From tee-10 (aka hillside-1), look up to the top of the hill, mostly open, with a treeline atop the ridge - stop now if that seems too far/hard, because that is where you are headed! Holes 1-2, 6 are mostly open, and quite steep, while 3-5 play across the slope, with a scattered tree or two to avoid. Now atop the ridge, the next few holes are spaced farther apart, and play within the woods, but fairly short (~200') and straight. The course finishes strongly, long (nearly 500'), downhill (a reward for all the climbing you've endured), with the trees running along the right, and the open slope on the left, with the basket at the end of the valley.

The tee locations are level. Most are gravel, a few are mats, a few are natural. The tee signs are good. The baskets are single-chained, but sufficient.

Nicely done, pretty private course, worth a visit, especially if you want some cardio work, too.

This course is in a gorgeous Western PA setting, and the location of the hill course makes for some grand views. Wild life and farm animals abound: in a single round, we saw turkeys, horses, highland cattle, snakes, groundhogs, and birds galore.

The private context means never having to wait to tee off or needing to let that annoyingly fast group behind you play through.

Fairways are well mowed. Bathrooms (portapotties) are conveniently located. Homemade tee signs are surprisingly professional: I've seen worse tee signs on many public courses.

The course is located in an area without other places to play in the immediate vicinity, providing a much-needed home course for locals or a stopping point during a road trip.

My favorite holes were:

- 5: the mix of rough, trees, and streams combined with quality pin placement makes for a challenging shot selection - do you throw a tight turnover coming in from the left or try to hyzer around the tree hoping you avoid landing in the streams?

- 12: The row of trees in the middle of the fairway plus the threat of the woods on the right force you to weigh risk versus reward on several possible routes.

- 16-18: Nice tight lines in the woods offer a welcome change to the preceding holes. 16's pin placement could be better, though - at present there's no line to approach the basket, almost assuredly forcing an extra stroke to get into position.

Before I relay my criticisms, I'd like to say that they're largely a result of the limitations which come from building and maintaining a private course. While these criticisms are nonetheless real and deserve to be mentioned, I think it's important to recognize how much work went into this course. It's well appreciated.

The rough here is my biggest complaint. It's not omnipresent - it mostly factors into holes 3 and 13-15 - but when it's there it's hard to avoid, and it's exceedingly thick. An errant throw could well mean losing an inordinate amount of time searching for your disc, if you can wade into the rough at all. Looking is made harder by the fact that there's often no landmarks in the rough, so it can be hard to gauge where your disc lands.

There aren't a lot of "complete" holes here. Most emphasize a single shot or geographical feature, and the shorter distance of many holes often enables you to save par with a single solid throw. I craved a few more holes like 12, where you have to weigh the risk of various options and choose how aggressive or safe you want to play it. Shot selection isn't challenged on most holes - the route to travel is often pretty obvious and limited.

The course contains baskets and tee pads which aren't actually used, potentially confusing navigation. This is exacerbated by the fact that the numbering on baskets and tees didn't always correspond with each other or with the hole you're on; this is mainly a problem on the last few holes.

The baskets themselves are a few steps down from those you'll find on most courses. They have a single layer of chains, making chain-outs a real threat. I totally recognize that buying 20 DISCatchers for a privately funded course isn't exactly feasible; still, the baskets made for some tense putting. I found myself putting very gingerly, and we "house ruled" one or two blow-throughs that would have been perfect putts on most baskets.

My hat goes off to the landowner and course designer who put this course together. I always appreciate individual effort, especially when others are made to benefit. I think this is a quality effort for a private course that will only get better with time.

My understanding is that they're trying to open this course up a bit to outsiders, so if given the opportunity to play a round, contact the landowner or designer and give it a go.